Beyond the Bake Sale

Q. I would like to know if it would be appropriate to have a booster club with officers comprised of coaches or coaches’ wives. I have been in this district for eight years and we cannot count on the community to assist due to many issues. Would we be in violation if coaches and their wives were in charge of the booster club?

A. Technically is would not be a violation, but it would create big problems. Whenever a nonprofit is created, your board has Fiduciary Duties to perform. If the board consists of school employees, they will have conflicts in all three areas: to whom will they be loyal? Which rules will they obey? Can they take enough care to manage both roles simultaneously?

The bigger question is, why have a booster club? Except for the gifting of public funds, a booster club (as a bona fide business in Washington state) must follow all the accounting rules that a school is required to follow. This is both a state and federal requirement.